The Tender Flowers
by Absynthess
Summary: When Juuri went to live in a human town, he followed her, professing his love. It took her longer to discover her own feelings, but when she did, she knew they ran just as deep. Nothing was as important to them as each other. Haruka—x—Juuri .
1. Chapter 1 : An Embrace At Dawn

**Disclaimer: **_Haruka and Juuri Kuran are the creations of Matsuri Hino. Her work, _Vampire Knight_, does not belong to me, and I make no claims to it. This piece of fanfiction is meant entirely for entertainment, not profit. _

Chapter One : An Embrace At Dawn

_When he holds me, he clutches me so tightly that I forget where he ends and I begin. His arms encircle my waist, and my fingers get lost in the loose curls of his dark hair. My own hair, the same warm, dark brown of his, falls over us both like a curtain, concealing our shame. But, when his lips touch mine, it doesn't feel shameful at all—in fact, nothing has ever felt more right to me before. _

_He's much taller than me, and I stand on tiptoe to reach his lips, straining to do so because I never want that kiss to stop—I never want to have to release him. He cups my face in his large, strong hands, and I've never felt safer. My feet are bare against the wet pavement. I'm well aware that the thin chiffon of my dress will soon be soaked through, revealing everything to him. I don't mind—I belong to him, now. _

_How could I have ever put this off? That time, when he wasn't dear to me, seems like an eternity ago, now. At this moment, the only thing in the world that matters to me is keeping the feel of him against my body. I'm sure that, if I release him, the fragile strings holding me together will rip apart, and I'll unfold at the seams, destroyed utterly. Surely, he knows this? That I'll die without him? That must be why he holds me so tightly, so desperately, kissing me with the same need that is currently coursing through my veins like lightning. _

_The new day is just beginning to dawn upon us. The sun rises slowly but steadily in the distance, dyeing us in beautiful hues of amber and peach, crimson and gold. The light shines in his eyes, and the gentle whisper of the morning wind floats past us, toying at the stands of my hair. When we finally allow our lips to part, he smiles softly at me, that gentle, knowing smile. _

_He is my brother, the blood of my blood. And yet the way he holds me is not the way a boy should hug his sister. It is a lovers' embrace, more intimate, more tangible, than anything I've ever known. I reach out a hand, gingerly, to touch the pale skin of his cheek. His smile depends, at that, and he covers my hand with his own, holding it in place. We stand like that, for a moment, letting the world pass us by, the only thing that matters to us is one another. _

"_Ju-Juuri?" Her voice is harsh and cacophonous. Immediately, I hate her, whoever she is, for ruining this most perfect moment. Then I turn, and I see her—she's wearing the uniform from my school. "Wh-what are you doing?"_

_She looks disgusted, and is rightly so, I suppose. No human woman has ever felt what I feel for this man, right here, right now. In response to her question, I reach up and kiss Haruka lightly on the lips. The girl gasps aloud—as I expected. The great farce has come to an end, now, and I know it. There's no way I'll be able to continue living here, now. Still, when I look into his eyes and feel the touch of his skin, I know that it's worth it. _


	2. Chapter 2 : Love Enough For Two

**Disclaimer: **_Haruka and Juuri Kuran are the creations of Matsuri Hino. Her work, _Vampire Knight_, does not belong to me, and I make no claims to it. This piece of fanfiction is meant entirely for entertainment, not profit. _

Chapter Two : Love Enough For Two

"Juuri?" His voice was soft and quite, considering, as he spoke to me. As always, Haruka's face was a completely unreadable mask. Even his smiles seemed to be hiding secrets. He was seated in the chair in a lazy, relaxed position, his elbows against the table. Somehow, that lazy smile of his brought out nothing but irritation in me.

"What is it?" I responded, rolling my eyes slightly. I was faced away from him, lying on my stomach on the couch. In front of me were my textbooks, the calculus one open. My pencil moved gently across a page of my notebook, completing the assignment that my mind, unlike most humans', could decipher with ease. As I half-turned my face to look at him, a lock of my dark hair fell forward across my shoulders. Annoyed, I brushed it away impatiently.

"Why don't we go outside?" he asked lightly. "It's such a beautiful day, and what's the point of living in a human city if we don't enjoy their gardens?"

"The point," I muttered through grated teeth, "is to pass the classes at the human school, Haruka. Or do you want me to fail?" I don't know why he had a habit of sitting in the room with me as I worked. Grandfather had shipped the cherry wood desk and chair over for my use, but Haruka used them more than I did, relegating me to the couch.

"You won't fail," he replied with certainty. "You're ten times smarter than all those girls put together, and you know it, Juuri." He always stressed the first syllable of my name, so that it sounded like "Joo-reh." I don't like the way he says it. It sounds like a whisper, a caress. It's too intimate for my liking.

"Well, if I'm going to try to live as a human, I may as well put in the work that they do!" My voice is harsher than I intend it to be, more intense. I hadn't meant to sound so passionate about _calculus_. I sighed and turned back to the book. "I'm trying to have a _genuine_ school-girl experience here, Haruka."

The next thing I knew, he's kneeling beside me, looking down at my face with those horridly tender eyes of his. Where does he get off, caring about me so much? He smiled lightly—devilishly?—and reached out one hand to stoke the top of my head.

"What's a school-girl experience without a little romance, Juuri? Surely some of your friends have boyfriends."

"Actually, they do," I responded, swatting his hand away as one would a fly. "There's a difference, though: none of their boyfriends are also their _brothers_."

He laughed and sat back on his heels. "Too true. Humans are vulnerable to all sorts of things, you know. If your friends had relations with their brothers, all of their children would end up cross-eyed hemophiliacs. Whereas our children will probably be just as beautiful as you."

"You say 'will' like it's actually going to happen." I muttered it darkly, scowling at him.

"And you glare at me like it _won't_." he replied with an infuriatingly knowing smile. "Don't worry. They may think you strange at first, but they'd get over it."

"So, that's how your little plan's supposed to work, eh, Haruka?"

"Come _on_, Juuri—even your friends will admit that none of their brothers are as attractive as I am. How could they blame you?" He's serious, I see as I look into his burgundy eyes. Nothing would make him happier than to be seen walking around town with me, arm-in-arm. A kiss on the cheek outside the bakery, a lover's intimate hug at the park.

A glance at the clock on the wall and groan. "You've officially wasted ten minutes of my time—going to go for fifteen?"

He grinned again, so I grabbed my calculus book and smacked him smartly on the nose with it. He frowned and grabbed the book from me, flipping through its pages much to fast to be actually reading them.

"This is stupid, Juuri. You're not going to look at the flowers with me because of _math_? I should call Grandfather and tell him that this human school is brainwashing you. I was against this from the start."

"I _know _you were," I muttered again, under my breath, "and that's why I wanted to come so badly." I didn't think that he really understood. Everything about our lives, from the clothes we wore to the people we interacted with, was chosen by the Kuran family. I had one year of freedom, and yet I was spending it tied down to my brother-sized ball-and-chain!

"Juuri," Haruka wasn't whining, exactly, but he did sound pitiful. He reached out and brushed a loose strand of dark hair away from my face, tucking it behind my ear. "How many times do I have to tell you I love you before you'll listen?"

I could sense the vivid crimson blush growing on my cheeks, and that only made me more defensive. "I'll believe you when you're sincere," I replied promptly, my standard response to his professions of adoration. The first time he said it I was three, and barely understood the words. Then, like now, he leaned over and kissed me softly on one cheek before sitting back and glancing at me.

"I have never once lied to you, Juuri," he insisted, sounding wounded. I hate seeing that look on his face. I've often thought that, if there was one thing in this world that I could eradicate, it would be that hopelessly compassionate, sad look on his face. I never wanted to see him like that, ever.

Finally, I shut my notebook and sighed. "We'll go to gardens," I murmured wearily.

"What was that?" He perked up at once, like a dog being handed a treat. All at once, the casual confidence was back, the assurance that he could do no wrong, even in my eyes.

"Only for an hour," I warned him immediately. "I can't waste anymore time than that."

He grabbed my hand and pulled me up off the couch, into a soft embrace. "Even that," he whispered loosely into my ear, "is enough for me."

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**A/N: **_I hope you've enjoyed the first chapters of _The Tender Flowers_. As always, I love any type of feedback, and hope that you enjoy my story! Thank you for reading! _


	3. Chapter 3 : Falling Back to Basics

**Disclaimer: **Haruka and Juuri Kuran are the creations of Matsuri Hino. Her work, Vampire Knight, does not belong to me, and I make no claims to it. This piece of fanfiction is meant entirely for entertainment, not profit.

Chapter Three : Falling Back to Basics

"You look beautiful, Juuri." The look I shot Haruka at that latest comment couldn't quite be called a grimace. My eyebrows narrowed dangerously over my eyes, and my mouth was set in a hard line, but I wasn't quite glaring at him—yet.

At that point, I still didn't quite know why I'd even agreed to go with him in the first place. I've told myself, over and over again, that my life wouldn't be dictated by the Kuran family rules—and the biggest rule was that Kurans ended up with other Kurans. If I gave into Haruka, wouldn't that just be submitting to the yoke they'd been trying to force on me for years?

"You're not going to say that I look nice, too?" He wasn't pouting, but he did seem disappointed. I sighed and gave him a huffy once-over. It wasn't possible for Haruka to look _bad_, I decided. The loose black button-down gave him a dark look, setting off the pale color of his skin. As always, it was impossible to tell whether the dusky color of his hair was closer to brown or black.

"You look like Haruka," I muttered tartly. "That hasn't changed in the last ten minutes." With that, I made my way to the door. As I stepped outside, I was greeted by a flurry of wind. It was a spring day, and the weather was what one could call "lukewarm." It wasn't pleasantly warm, nor did we have the benefit of rain. It was an entirely unlikeable situation.

"You can't complain," Haruka said—he must have noticed my expression. "You're the one who wanted to move away from our perfect climate, remember?"

"I didn't say I was going to stay here forever!" I protested.

"Ah, yes. But normally, when people chose vacation destinations, they tend to pick more temperate climates." He said it so matter-of-factly that I couldn't even argue with him. It was true; I could have chosen to spend my year of freedom just about anywhere. I suppose the only reason I chose the location that I did was because I was going for the most "normal" place I could find. And normalcy included bad weather.

"Whatever," I said, somewhat childishly. "Can we just go, Haruka?" He seemed only too ready to comply, so we set off down the street.

The skirt of my dress blew around me as I walked, the thick lace border tickling my knees. Like all the clothes my mother had acquired for me before I'd left, I had a strong suspicion that Haruka had had a hand in choosing the dress. It was off-white, with a low, square-cut neckline and bell sleeves. It was just my style, and yet, as I walked through town in it, I felt eyes on me. Normal girls didn't dress in such showy, old-fashioned clothes.

"So," Haruka began conversationally as our shoes clicked against the sidewalk, "how was school today, Juuri?"

"Huh?"

"You wanted normalcy, didn't you?" he asked me somewhat ruefully. "Well, anything that is in my power to provide you, you will get. Don't family members usually ask questions like that of each other?"

I couldn't help but smile at this. Haruka really was sweet, when I thought about it. He was trying to take care of me. He had a ridiculously obnoxious way of going about it, but he was _trying_. Because of that, I was eager to tell him anything to reward his efforts—to get my "normalcy."

"Well," I began, fully intending to force him to listen through a play-by-play of my school day, "do you want to here about Calculus first, or Geography?"

"Whichever is more amusing," Haruka replied, a glint in his eye.

"Calculus it is, then—you'll want to know all about what Katsumi Himura was gossiping about, today."

"And what was that?"

"What else?—who is that new family, the Kurans, and what business do they have in _her_ town?"

He laughed softly, and reached forward to take my hand in his. It wasn't a particularly intimate gesture, but the feel of his fingers around mine sent something of a shiver through my body. I didn't like it.

"So, what did you tell Himura-san?"

"She didn't even know that I was listening, Haruka," I explained, somewhat lackadaisically, "She'd be so embarrassed if she knew I heard. For some reason, when you gossip, it's important that everyone hears what you're saying, except the person involved."

"You know, maybe I should attend this school, too. I could learn a lot, apparently."

"_Absolutely not_!" He sounded so serious that the words escaped my mouth before I had thought about it. "Anyways, you look about twenty; no one would believe you were a high-schooler."

"You really don't want me there?"

"Never." I didn't mean to sound so cold, and yet Haruka's eyes at once grew distant. There had always been a strange dynamic between the two of us. He constantly professed his love to me, and I never knew how to respond. When we could fall back into the pattern of siblings, we were content in that. But the instant he tried to take things further, I shied away from him before I knew what I was doing. And yet, the instant his eyes clouded like that, I felt a dark ache rising up in the pit of my stomach. What was that power he held over me?

He hadn't released my hand yet, and as we approached the public gardens, he dragged me forward, excited like a little boy.

"What's the rush, Haruka?" I asked quizzically as we crossed under the welcoming arches of wisteria. The instant we did so, the scent of the flowers struck us—roses, magnolias, hydrangeas. It really was beautiful.

"I have something to show you." I followed him, curious to see why he was so eager. Mostly, however, I was just eager for any way to change the subject away from him and my school. I probably should have never brought up Kasumi Himura, because, sooner or later, I would have to relay her last bit of gossip.

"_Have you seen her brother, though? I've never seen anyone more good-looking…no, he's not _married! _He's here with his _sister!_"_

Why did her words make me want to rip out her throat?

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**A/N: **I hope you've enjoyed this chapter of _The Tender Flowers_. This is mostly a transition between the first few chapters and the plot, so I hope you'll look forward to an exciting chapter next time! As always, I'd love to hear any feedback! Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4 : Kindred Yet Kind

**Disclaimer: **Haruka and Juuri Kuran are the creations of Matsuri Hino. Her work, Vampire Knight, does not belong to me, and I make no claims to it. This piece of fanfiction is meant entirely for entertainment, not profit.

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Chapter Four : Kindred Yet Kind

When I thought about, I realized that I had no idea _how_ I felt about Haruka. He had always been there—like an appendage, something I used without appreciating or even realizing it was there. My first memory is of him—a calm, tender-eyed boy leaning over my cradle, gently pushing back my hair in order to get a better look at my face. Since that memory, he's never been very far from side—I've never spent more than a day or two without him, and even those times make me feel strange, out of place.

But did all that add up to anything, any tangible emotion? And if it was an emotion, how could I be sure if it was merely the affection of siblings, or something deeper?

"Hey, Haruka?" My voice was soft, but anyone who listened to that gentle tone and thought I was meek wasn't listening to the firm undercurrents in my words. No pureblood can ever come off as less that what she is—even the girls at my school could tell that I wasn't exactly like them—I was _other_ in some way, thought they could hardly grasp what that way was.

He turned around—he still hadn't dropped my hand, I noted—and quirked an eyebrow at me. "Yes?"

"When you say…that you…I mean…" My words were coming out more fragmented than I intended. For perhaps the first time in my life, I wasn't sure of what I wanted to say. I could hardly ask—_Why do you say you love me? How do you know its love, even? _He'd just laugh and give me some unclear answer, like he always did. He was always honest with me, but no one has ever mastered a vampire's knack for speaking without saying anything quite like Haruka has.

"Hmm?"

"Never mind." Perhaps it wasn't yet the right time. If I asked those questions of Haruka, I'd have to do one of two things—accept his feelings, or reject them. Either I fundamentally changed our relationship, or I ended it entirely. And I was ill-prepared to do either of those things.

"Al-right," Haruka replied, drawing out the word. He turned, then, and led me down one of the cobblestone paths in the garden. At once, I was caught up in the sheer wonder of nature. Maybe, to us, who live thousands of years, the minute lifecycle of a plant is all the more precious. Roses bloom for mere instants, lilies crumble and fade before you have a chance to turn your head and look at them. Maybe that's why we love them so much.

Maybe that's the same reason we love humans so much, when we bother ourselves to make a connection with them. They _can't_ be mates to us; there are simply too many differences between a pureblood vampire and a human. However, that doesn't mean that we can't be _fond_ of humans, or even have physical relationships with them. But they are so fleeting, like snow in early spring…

"Juuri," Haruka's soft voice called me back to reality.

My head snapped up in response. "Yes?"

"You know that I'd never question you, but there's something I have to ask."

Suddenly, I was wary. "What is it, Haruka?"

He looms over me when he speaks, and it was no different, then. Even standing right next to him, I was barely level with his shoulders. Still, when he looked me in the eyes like that, I knew one thing with absolute certainty—Haruka had never looked at me and seen anything but an equal. He didn't place me on a pedestal, or treat me like a doll. In me, he saw someone kindred and yet foreign; like enough to be loved, different enough to be respected.

"Do you truly enjoy pretending to be _human_?" He stressed the last word, but it wasn't out of contempt—it was out of wonder, maybe, or disbelief. Haruka had never been the type to condemn humans for what they were; he merely respected the fact that they were _different_.

It took me a minute to come up with an answer. Wisteria petals floated lazily in the air around us, scenting the atmosphere. A gentle wind blew, pulling strands of hair away from my face. Finally, I sighed.

"I'm not trying to deny what I am, Haruka," I said slowly, mulling over my thoughts even as I answered. "I have never been—never _will be_—anyone but Kuran Juuri, a pureblood vampire. I've never _wanted_ to be anyone else. But sometimes, even if I don't mind being what I am, I'm still not completely happy with the life I'm living." I bit my lip, at that, knowing how the sentiment would hurt him. And yet, I forced myself to continue.

"Maybe we're the ones who don't do it right. These humans live such fleeting, frivolous lives, Haruka, but no one can deny that they're _happy_. They're happy in their ignorance and their anger and their bliss—it's all so simple for them. In our lives, we find some contentment, but no one could make the claim that our lives our _simple_." I shrugged.

"I don't want to pretend to be something that I'm not; at least, not forever." He smiled slyly at that comment. "But for once, I just wanted to know simple happiness—happiness untainted by the fear of wondering how those who revere us would react, how those who want to control us would steer it to their advantage."

"That was all I wanted, Haruka. Can you understand that?"

For one painfully long moment, the two of us stared at each other. The very edges of sunset were upon us, so that an amber glow filled the air though there was still ample light to see by. I sucked in my breath, suddenly afraid that my feelings—my true feelings—would be the things that ended up driving Haruka away from me.

"You know, Juuri," he said finally, with a rueful smile, "every time you open your mouth, I'm left amazed at just how much _life_ there is inside of you."

Relief surged through my body so quickly that I didn't remember ever feeling apprehensive. Of course Haruka would never abandon me, I told myself, and it was foolish to even contemplate the possibility.

To his latest comment, there was only one thing to do. In proper little sister fashion, I stuck out my tongue at him and ran ahead on the path. "Well, aren't we the smart one?" I asked, trying to bring the conversation back onto safe ground.

"Then you do something like _that_," Haruka continued, "and I'm forced to remember how much more you still have to live."

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**A/N: **Thank you for reading this chapter of _The Tender Flowers_. First off, I want to apologize for how long it's taken me to get this chapter up—I blame the horrors of standardized testing! Secondly, I want to profusely thank all twenty-some people who've commented on this story thus far. Even though I don't have time to respond to all of you (I'm making my way through the reviews slowly, though!) I would like you to know how much I appreciate the feedback.

Now, onto my comments on this chapter: it was mainly put here as a preface to the choice that Juuri will later make for Yuuki, to turn her human. I promise that Haruka's surprise and the gossip from Juuri's class will once again be relevant very soon! Also, the next chapter should be up this weekend! Thanks again for reading!


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